The request for correction of date of birth in Government service should be made within the stipulated period of five years from the entry into that particular service, and an inordinate delay in seeking the correction may result in the denial of the relief.

JUDGMENT :

R. Subbiah, J.

Prayer: Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the order dated 05.03.2019 passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.No.16857 of 2018 on the file of this Court.

1. This Writ Appeal has been filed against the order dated 05.03.2019 passed by the learned Single Judge, in W.P.No.16857 of 2018 in dismissing the Writ Petition filed by the appellant herein praying to quash the order dated 08.05.2018 on the file of the third respondent and to direct the respondents to correct the appellant/writ petitioner's date of birth as 21.07.1959 instead of 12.05.1957 in the Service and other records maintained by the first respondent-Principal of Pondicherry Engineering College.

2. The brief facts which are necessary to decide the issue involved in this Writ Appeal are as follows:

(a) The appellant/writ petitioner was appointed initially as Lecturer through direct recruitment in the Pondicherry Engineering College with effect from 02.05.1986; he was subsequently appointed as Assistant Professor with effect from 30.09.1992 on ad-hoc basis by direct recruitment. The petitioner resigned the said post of Assistant Professor, Electronics and Communications Engineering; he participated in the process of selection and got selected to be appointed as Professor by way of direct recruitment on 28.06.1999. He was placed under probation for a period of two years from 28.06.1999 and thereafter, his probation was declared.

(b) At the time of joining the service, he had produced the School Leaving Certificate as proof of his date of birth, in which, his date of birth was mentioned as 12.05.1957. Accordingly, his date of birth was recorded as 12.05.1957 in the service book maintained by the first respondent. But it is the averment of the writ petitioner that his actual date of birth was 21.07.1959. He was born at Tiruoucanour and his birth was registered with Mannadipet Commune Panchayat on 28.07.1959 in Registration No.153. Hence, the writ petitioner made a representation dated 21.06.2004 to the first respondent for correction of his date of birth.

(c) The third respondent, by order dated 08.05.2018, declined to alter the writ petitioner's date of birth entered in the service records as 21.07.1959 instead of 12.05.1957 and rejected his representation, dated 21.06.2004. The third respondent herein had taken into consideration the date of joining as Lecturer in Electronics and Communications Engineering on 02.05.1986 instead of his appointment as Professor in Electronics and Communications Engineering, Pondicherry Engineering College, Puducherry on 28.06.1999. According to the writ petitioner, if the date 28.06.1999 is taken into consideration, then his representation to correct the date of birth is within the stipulated period of five years. Furthermore, the third respondent has not given any finding about the correctness of his claim for alteration of date of birth.

(d) In fact, before submitting the said representation, dated 21.06.2004, the appellant/writ petitioner filed a civil suit in O.S.No.595 of 2002 before the III Additional District Munsif Court, Pondicherry for a declaration to declare that his date of birth is 21.07.1959 and not 12.05.1957; for mandatory injunction to direct the second defendant therein to carry out the correction regarding the date of birth of the appellant as 21.07.1959 in the place of 12.05.1957 in the SSLC and other relevant records; and for mandatory injunction to direct the fourth defendant therein to carry out the correction regarding the date of birth of the appellant (plaintiff) as 21.07.1959 in the place of 12.05.1957 in the Service Register and other relevant records. The said suit was dismissed on 06.11.2003 mainly on the ground of limitation under Article 58 of the Limitation Act.

(e) Aggrieved by the judgment and decree in O.S.No.595 of 2002, the appellant/writ petitioner preferred First Appeal in Appeal Suit No.76 of 2005 before the Principal Sub-Court, Pondicherry and the sa